“Oh.” He rubbed his forehead, obviously uncomfortable.
Something occurred to her at that moment.
“You just sent a text that you weren’t coming home?”
“Yeah. Uh…” He looked up at the ceiling. His expression could only be described as busted.
Kenley’s heart seized. She understood what this meant. He was avoiding her. All this time, while she was lonely and wishing he was there, he was probably in the same town, hiding from her.
She’d guessed he was never really on board with hiring her, but she thought he’d at least give her a chance. If she could only prove herself, maybe they would get along. Obviously she had been wrong. Her second theory for his avoidance was even worse.
Had he seen how infatuated she was with him? Had she made him so uncomfortable he was desperate to stay away? She wanted to disappear.
“I see. Well, I should go.” She put the stapler back on her desk and opened the bottom drawer to get her purse, her hands shaking.
“You’re walking home in the dark?” He gestured to the front window.
“I’ll be fine.” She started for the door and then stopped. “I wanted to make a good impression.” She shrugged and unlocked the door. This was beyond embarrassing. She used to be a strong woman, confident of her value as an employee, but thanks to Ruth she felt like a beggar, constantly trying to prove herself. And failing.
And now this man couldn’t even stand to be in the same office with her.
Chapter 6
Zane winced as he watched the expression on Kenley’s face change from horror of an impending attack to a different kind of horror. She was embarrassed, and now she was leaving. He’d messed up again. He desperately needed to come up with some way to fix this.
“I got in late last night.” Seven could be late. “And I had some other things to do today.” Like hide from her. “I was planning to leave tomorrow again, so I didn’t think it would matter if I was in town.” Well, that sucked.
“You don’t need to explain.” She paused at the door, and then turned to face him. “Look, I know you didn’t want to hire me. I know Sidney pressured you into it. I have an older brother, so I understand how sometimes it’s easier to give in than to put up a fight. I get it.” She looked down at the floor. “If you find someone you really want to work with, I’ll train them before I go so you don’t have to bother Sidney.”
This was definitely not what he wanted, although it would make things so much easier. But he didn’t want her to go. She must have sensed his delay as affirmation.
“However you want to handle it is fine. I can quit or you can fire me. It’s up to you. I’ve been fired before.”
“You don’t like working here?” he asked. Maybe she wanted out.
“I do. I like it a lot, but I guess I thought…” She shook her head.
“What did you think?” He had to know.
“I thought we would be working together, like a team. It’s stupid, but I really wanted to learn about boats. I wanted to belong here.” She laughed. “I can’t believe I just made this situation worse. God.” She shook her head. “Like I said, it was a stupid expectation. I mean, this is your business. I’m sorry it didn’t work out.” She turned to leave again and his heart nearly stopped.
“Wait. I don’t want you to go,” he said more seriously than he needed to. “I mean, not tonight—you can obviously go home. But I want you to come back. Tomorrow.” He sounded like an idiot.
“Sure. I wouldn’t leave you hanging. I can stick around until you find someone else.”
“I don’t want anyone else. I want you.” More than he should. “You’re doing an excellent job. Everything’s going according to plan and ahead of schedule. I actually like the new billing system. And you saved me a bunch of money by finding that other freight company to move our equipment and tools. I should have said something about that. Thank you.”
“It’s not like we’ve spoken.”
“Right. I’m sorry about that too. I guess I just…” What was he going to say?
“I get it. You don’t like change. No one does. Sidney was with you since you started your business so it’s probably difficult to get used to someone else. Especially a stranger.” She gave him the perfect excuse, and like a coward he took it.
“Still, it was rude. If you stay, I promise I’ll do better. I’ll make an effort to communicate and be here in person. So we can work together. Like a team.” This idea put his stomach in knots, but he needed to do something drastic. This was his business. She was an asset he couldn’t afford to lose. He needed her on his team as much as he needed Paul and Brady. He would only think of her in that aspect.
“It gets kind of lonely here all the time.”
“Maybe we could get a parrot.”
She laughed at his feeble attempt at humor. “I don’t think that would be a good idea since I’ve killed a cactus.”
“That takes some effort.” His body responded to her laugh, but instead of running away, he stood there hoping he would eventually become desensitized to his reaction. If they were going to work together, he needed to figure out how to be close to her. And stay there.
“So I guess you don’t need me to schedule your flight home.”
“Um. No.” He smiled. “I’m already here.”
“So I see.” She smiled back at him. Were they flirting? It seemed like it.
“Have you eaten?” he asked without thinking as she turned to go. The temptation was almost gone, but he’d called her back.
“No. I was going to go home and have a bowl of…” She waved her hand. “No.”
“Do you want to go grab something to eat? My treat. I won’t need to run out to take a call. We could get to know each other a little better,” he suggested. What was wrong with him? Had he just suggested they go on a date? Before he had the opportunity to backtrack, he saw her eyes light up with excitement.
“That would be a great idea.”
He couldn’t believe he’d just asked her out to dinner. Did employers take their employees out for random dinners? He went for drinks with Brady and Paul. It must be acceptable. He swallowed and followed her out of the office.
Despite his expectations, dinner wasn’t uncomfortable at all. Kenley seemed happy to forget about his appalling manners and sneaking around, so he let it go. They chatted easily about the boat he was working on and how he was going to be looking for a boat for Wes at the boat show in Montauk.
“That sounds like fun,” she said.
“Would you want to spend a weekend looking at a bunch of boats?” He’d seen the frown when she thought she would be stuck in the office alone all the time.
“Sidney said she sometimes needed to go to take care of insurance issues and quotes. I’m prepared to learn how to do that. It is part of my job, right? I need to learn more about boats.”
He frowned at the table.
“I’m sorry this job hasn’t been what you expected. If you want to learn more, we can make that happen. I’ll take you to the boat show. It’s a two-day thing. I’m staying on my boat, but I’ll get you a hotel room. Well, you can book that yourself with my card.” He smiled. “I can show you what’s involved in appraising a vessel. If we buy one, I’ll be overseeing the project as a personal favor to my friend, Wes, but you can help me with it.”
“That sounds great.” She practically beamed with excitement and he felt even worse. She must be bored stiff if this prospect thrilled her so much.
“I’m sorry this job isn’t more exciting. Why do you think I travel so much?” he asked.
“To avoid me.”
Her honesty nearly made him choke on his drink. He set the glass down, his gaze on the table. He needed to make this right.
“That was beyond rude of me, Kenley. I’m so sorry.”
“Do you want to tell me what it is I did that made you want to avoid me?”
“It’s nothing you did. Nothing at all. I’ve not been dealing with things well. It w
on’t happen again. I promise you.”
“So I can stay?” she asked.
“Of course. You work circles around Sidney and you don’t yell at me. Who wouldn’t want to keep you?” Forever? Maybe in their bed? He was not desensitizing at the speed he would have liked.
When dinner was over they walked out into the chilly night air. Kenley pulled her jacket closer around her and turned to him with a smile.
“Thanks for dinner.”
“Thanks for giving me another chance,” he said. “Why don’t you wait here, and I’ll get my truck to drive you home.”
“No. It’s fine, really. I should walk.” If she meant she needed to walk because of her figure, she was wrong. She was perfect. She had nice womanly curves in all the right places. Curves he shouldn’t be noticing on his employee.
“I’m leaving tomorrow afternoon,” he told her with a frown. Now that he found he could talk to her without feeling like a stupid, shy boy, he wished he could stay.
“For real?”
“Yes.” He laughed at her expression. “I might be buying a small shop on Lake Erie. I’m meeting the inspector from the bank.”
“Expanding? That’s a good sign.” He nodded. He’d planned to grow his company before now. It just hadn’t worked out yet. He wouldn’t tell her that hiding from her had been the catalyst to get him moving on the plan.
“So I’ll see you in the morning before you head out?” She was still standing close to him, and when she looked up he saw it.
She licked her bottom lip. He swore he saw her gaze drift down to his lips before meeting his eyes again. He must have imagined it. His own gaze seemed trapped at her lips and then he abruptly turned away, cursing Brady for putting ideas into his head.
Whatever he thought he saw, or hoped he saw, he could be certain of one thing, Kenley Carmichael most certainly did not want to kiss him. And he surely could not kiss her.
He stepped back, chanting the word employee over and over in his head.
* * *
Oh God. She’d almost leaned in to kiss her boss. It felt like a magnet was pulling her in, and she couldn’t fight it. Fortunately, he’d turned away before she could make an even bigger ass of herself.
She practically skipped during her brisk trip home. As she lay in her bed, she couldn’t help but replay her dinner with Zane. He’d smiled a few times, and each time it struck her right in the chest.
Her new boss was as sweet as she thought he could be. And his kindness came in a beautiful, sexy package. Sexy? She couldn’t allow herself to think of him as sexy. He was her boss.
She knew very well what came from fooling around—even allegedly—with a superior. Unemployment, misery, and her brother’s sofa.
It would be even worse if she lost this job. She really liked it. She enjoyed the challenge of finding ways to improve and be more efficient. And as much as she complained about the solitude, it was nice not having someone hovering over her second-guessing everything she did.
This job was perfect. She needed to make sure she didn’t jeopardize it.
* * *
The next morning Zane was there as expected. She tried to leave him alone, but couldn’t help herself. Twice she came up with some lame reason to go into his office so she could interact. She bounced some ideas off him and took notes on future projects. She was doing it. She was establishing a business relationship with her boss.
Before lunch he came out to say goodbye.
“I’ll be back next week. I’ll let you know when I know.”
“Okay. Do you want me to drive you to the airport?” she offered, not wanting him to leave yet. Now that they were working together so well, she wanted to keep up the momentum.
“No. But thanks.”
“See you next week.” She noticed a brief hesitation before he left, only to come right back.
“You’re doing a great job. Please don’t think I haven’t noticed.”
“Thank you.” She blinked and watched as he left.
It felt as if he’d taken a big chunk of her with him. It was an overly dramatic thought, and made her laugh at the ridiculousness of it. She had a crush on her boss. She would have to find a way to keep that under control.
* * *
A week later she was still working mostly on her own, but now Zane would actually speak to her on the phone. He gave her more responsibilities, which helped, but they still didn’t keep her busy enough for her liking.
Her home life was just as bad. She’d worked long hours at her last job, and while she enjoyed the idea of having her evenings to herself to do whatever she wanted, she still didn’t know what it was she wanted to do.
She joined a gym, but she could only work out for so long. Most nights she found herself sitting in front of the television or reading until it was late enough to go to bed without it being a disorder. She had never been so rested and restless at the same time.
“New Haven Custom Boats,” she answered cheerfully the next morning.
“Hey, Kenley, it’s me. Can you do me a big favor?” Zane asked.
“Sure.”
“Go into my office,” he instructed. She carried the cordless phone into his office.
“I’m here.”
“Go to my desk. In the bottom left-hand drawer there is a box of pictures.”
“Yep.” She frowned at the shoebox stuffed full with photos. Some had fallen out, some were about to.
“In the front there should be a picture of a ratty green door.”
She flipped through the beginning of the stack, noticing they were all images of boat parts.
“Green door. Brass doorknob?”
“Yes. That’s it. Can you scan it to me? I think I wrote the size on the back. I need that too.”
“Sure. I’ll do it now.”
“Thanks, I really appreciate it.”
“No problem. When will you be in? I have two people who want to meet with you. Lawyer and insurance adjuster.”
“Friday?”
“I’ll see if that works for them and send you an email to confirm.”
“Great. Talk to you later,” he said before they hung up. She scanned the photo and sent it to him immediately, like the neurotic employee she was.
She took the photo back to his office and frowned at the mess, her OCD flaring up slightly. No way could she just shove the door picture back into the box and close the drawer.
“Damn it!” she huffed and took the whole box out to her desk to organize it. These were obviously pictures of things that were salvaged from boats to be used to restore other boats. She’d seen the racks of items on the far wall of the slip.
Over the next few days she scanned all the photos into a computer file and sorted them by tabs. Engines, hulls, windows/glass, navigation, brass, etc. She entered any notes from the backs of the photos. Then she loaded them all on the server. She spent her evenings at home learning how to create an app.
If nothing else, it gave her an excuse not to go with Officer Porter when he showed up at the door. For all the promises she’d made to herself about getting out there and trying to find a connection, she already knew she wasn’t interested. She wished she did find him appealing. It would keep her from daydreaming about her boss, which she still found herself doing occasionally.
After finishing her project, she drummed her fingers on her desk and sighed. Now what?
* * *
“Hello.” Zane answered Paul’s call as he walked into his office. It was good to be home.
“Did you hear from Josh? He says he’s looking for a new nav system for his boat.”
“Yeah, I heard.”
“Did you want me to take a look and work something up?” he asked.
“No, I’ve got it. I’ll look for something while I’m at the boat show. I’m taking Kenley with me so I can show her the ropes.”
“Show her the ropes? She’s into that kind of thing?” Paul teased.
“Very funny.”
Paul was still
laughing at his own joke. “Seriously, though. The two of you in a boat? Alone?”
“Yeah. So?”
“Overnight?”
“I’ll stay on the boat and she has a room at the convention center.” Why was Paul acting like this was a big deal? Maybe because it was a big deal. Huge. He and Kenley together. Alone, as he’d pointed out. This would be the ultimate test of his control.
“You know what they say about being at sea with a woman.”
“It’s bad luck?”
“That’s only if you’re crossing the sea. They say it’s romantic.”
“It’s a boat show, not a tropical cruise.”
“I took Taylor out on my boat one time and bam. We were in love.”
“So you’re saying if I take Kenley with me, we’re going to fall madly in love and get married?” If only it could be that simple. He could see Kenley in a white gown, smiling at him. Tiny flowers in her hair, and—
Paul’s laughter ruined his little daydream.
“No. You’re probably safe.”
“Thanks,” Zane said with a frown as he employed the chanting again. Employee. Employee. Employee.
Zane was nervous about this trip. Over the last week he’d been talking to her on the phone instead of texting. A few times he was sure they were flirting. Not blatant flirting, but flirting nonetheless. The chanting wasn’t working, so he’d switched to imagining how screwed he’d be if she quit. He tried to picture the lady who didn’t like to fly, or the teenage text queen sitting in the office instead of Kenley. He didn’t think they would care about keeping his job folders organized or cutting expenses like Kenley did.
Kenley had stopped in his office three times that morning, but it wasn’t enough. He went out to find her. He had a question about something he already knew the answer to.
She was in the front office talking to someone. Thinking his eleven-thirty appointment was early, he went out to meet the person, but stopped in the hall when he heard Kenley whisper his name.
“Zane’s in the office today,” she told someone. Was that excitement in her voice?
“Who?” the other woman asked.
“Zane Jackson, my boss.”
“What’s he like?”
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